Blacktail Deer Plateau Cats don't play nice

@reverie

Amalia had run, and run. Her limbs felt weak and heavy she had not drank nor ate. She had lost weight amd her sides were scabbed over and sore to touch. She had been lucky the wounds were not worse than they were.

Finally, her legs gave out and she tumbled to the ground. She couldn't take another step. Another movement nothing.

She panted and wheezed, bloodshot eyes. But she had to get to Brecheliant.

She crossed the mountains with the eagle perched at her shoulder, overcome with thoughts of Lestan. It was a fit of melancholy which led her to drift so far from her home, a pressing sense of loss. Would the world ever look the same without him? Would the sun ever shine as brightly as it once had?
Reverie could only think of his gentle voice, his pretty blue-gold eyes, the way he'd loved her so wholly and so desperately. And in return she had given him her sorrow; her resentment; her blood. What business, then, did she have marrying again? Surely she would bring nothing but sorrow to Boone.
Lost in these thoughts, she almost didn't notice the panting figure lying prone in the distance. Reverie almost passed right by her. But something made her look up, some inexplicable feeling that she ought to, and the gilded girl let out a little gasp at what she saw. That faint hint of blood on the breeze had not been her imagination, then. Reverie rushed over, too panicked to be wary of aggression. Are you okay? She called, feeling foolish for asking when clearly the answer was no. Do you need help? She moved to sniff the dark stranger, to inspect her wounds, and thought no more of her own woes. They weren't important just then.

A wolf came upon her then. A pretty she wolf painted in colors of gilded lilies and sunshine.

A small smile, though it hurt and she had trouble speaking between pants.

Iii'm Aaamalia. Brecheliant. Cats.

She shuddered and lay her head down. Weak now and as her body settled the pain began to thrum and eek into her limbs her sides. Her paw pads were torn and bloodied from running. Her sides pained from the cats claws. Her head ached from lack of water and hercstomach gurgled impstiently for food, but the thought of food made bile rise deep inside.

Cats;
Reverie was reminded starkly of Lestan in this moment, and the memory of his return sent a full-body shudder through her. He'd been so sick; so weak; so changed. Would Amalia, too, become a different person than who she had been before the attack?
But there was no way of knowing. She took a strange sort of comfort in this, moving forward to inspect the worst of the wounds along the woman's flank. It'll be okay, Reverie assured her quietly, nosing her cheek for a moment in hopes that it might bring her some small measure of comfort. I'll get you some medicine to keep infection away, and some food and water, okay? And then I'll get you home. You'll be alright. She sighed softly as she pulled away, glancing to her feathered companion. Her voice was lower when she addressed the eagle; Can you stay with her? Warn me if anyone - anything - comes near her?
The bird seemed to understand; it hopped from her shoulder and settled near the woman with a shake of its feathers.
I'm going to leave my friend with you - um, my bird friend, Reverie told Amalia. I'll be back, I promise. And with that, she set off, resolving that she would find her husband when she felt the injured wolf was stable enough to travel a ways into the mountains.

Everything changed you. Sometimes for the good sometimes the bad. Perhaps Amalia would become more wary of darkness amd cats, but she knew she'd not use her attack as a means to be nasty.

Amalia accepted the small comfort even if it were from a stranger. And she nodded, too tired to speak.

She eyed the eagle, but didn't fuss. She closed her eyes trusting the bird to keep an eye.

Reverie returned in short order, bearing the herbs she would need to treat Amalia's wounds, along with a small hare and a chunk of moss soaked in water. Carefully she placed each of her offerings before the woman, jaws aching a little after being stretched so wide to carry all of it.

Try to eat and drink slowly, She said softly. You'll be okay, but you should take it easy for a few days at least. You've been through a lot.

And with that she started to work at treating Amalia's wounds, gentle as she cleaned them. This might hurt a little, I'm sorry, Reverie warned her with a little wince. She'd always hated that part of healing. But with time it had gotten easier. Having suffered so many of her own hurts, it was easier to detach; easier to know that this would pass, and the wounds would heal, and Amalia would be okay again.

You said you're from Brecheliant? She asked conversationally, voice gentle. I met someone from there. Her name was Dwin. Do you know her?

There were a few herbs that Amalia knew, but not many. She recognized some that her brother used. So she was not concerned that the other wolf meant any harm to her. The water moss was soothing to her throat, but she could only manage a few bites of the hare, before she nosed it away. 

I will save it. Too much i'm afraid on such an empty stomach.

Amalia winced, but she nodded. I know it's okay. Thank you for your assistance.

Amalia's ears lifted forward and she nodded her head with a small smile. Yes Dwin is one of the leader's daughters. She is adventurous, and worldly. A bit close minded on some things, but open minded on others. A sweet, but opinionated girl as she should be.

Reverie listened to Amalia as she worked at cleaning and dressing her wounds, smiling faintly as she went on about Dwin. Yes, that sounded like the girl she knew. And it was good that they'd found something to distract the woman; this part always went by faster with a distraction.

I like her, She agreed amiably. We met in the taiga, near the Rising Sun Valley. We made up stories together. Is she back at Brecheliant now? Where even was Brecheliant? Reverie wasn't quite sure, but if Amalia's location was anything to go by, it was quite far from where she'd met the girl.

Had she not had a distraction. Amalia still would have tried to be a good pstient. Her family was healers after all except her of course. So she knew the difficulties it presented anyway then add unruly patient and well.


She was when i left
But Dwin often travels. So she may have departed again.

Amalia felt that lick of shame at getting herself hurt and leaving.

It was good to hear that Dwin had found her way home once again, though the mention of traveling made her heart ache. Reverie herself had once wanted to see the world. Twice now she had sacrificed that want for the love of a man; twice now she'd given herself over to the promise of a future she had never wanted for herself.

But things were different now. She'd changed. That was what Reverie told herself, anyway, as she finished dressing the wounds with herbs that would prevent infection and promote healing. Here, this is for the pain. It doesn't taste very good, though, She presented a few leaves to Amalia and then rose, gathering the leftover herbs into a little pile.

When you're ready, I can help you get back to Brecheliant.

There was a sadness to the sunshine wolf. A sadness Amalia thought she could recognize at least in part. And yet she also knew no one wolf could truly know the struggles of another. And though she wished to ask she decided twas not her place.



Amalia made a face as she ate the plant. But she stood on shaky legs and took a shuddering breath.

It's this way. she began to sniff at a trail. I'm a scout.

Fading, thank you for the thread <3

A scout. I was, too, once, Reverie almost told her. But she swallowed the thought and only nodded. Lead the way, then, She invited softly, smiling.

It was only on her return to the mountains that she would notice the lingering scent of cat. A warning; one she would not heed until it was far too late.